[agents] POST-DOC: Beyond the DARPA Network (Red Balloon) Challenge

[Iyad Rahwan]

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Post-doctoral position:

Beyond the DARPA Network
(Red Balloon) Challenge
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A joint effort by MIT (Sandy Pentland), Masdar Institute (Iyad
Rahwan), and UC San Diego (Manuel Cebrian) is developing a framework
to understand, model and extend the different strategies that competed
for the celebrated DARPA Network Challenge, in which the winning
team's strategy utilized a novel recursive incentive mechanism to find
10 balloons positioned randomly in the US in under nine hours.

We are looking for an exceptional postdoctoral fellow with a strong
research track record in one or more of the following areas:
game-theory, computer science, evolutionary dynamics, economics,
statistical mechanics, and related areas and experience in
computational modeling and analysis. He or she will also help
integrate the theoretical insights into a cohesive experimental setup
that can be used for the validation of further time-critical
mobilization experiments.

PACKAGE:
The successful candidate will be employed by Masdar Institute in the
UAE, and will visit and collaborate with students and faculty from the
three collaborating institutions. The salary package is highly
competitive (up to $70k p/a + health insurance, and UAE does not levy
income tax). The position will be for an initial duration of 12
months, extendible (up to 2 or 3 years) depending on performance and
funding continuation.

SUBMISSION:
The position is available immediately, but the application process
will remain open until the position is filled by a suitable candidate.
Interested applicants should submit the following to Iyad Rahwan
(www.mit.edu/~irahwan):
(1) Academic CV, including names and contact details of 3 referees.
(2) A 1-page “statement of interest”, explaining the candidate’s
interest in the project.
(3) One or two “representative papers” describing the applicant’s research.
A confirmation will be sent when the application is received.
Incomplete or generic applications will be ignored.

FURTHER READING:
The DARPA Network Challenge: http://networkchallenge.darpa.mil/
Communications of the ACM article: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1924421.1924441
Paper describing the winning strategy: http://arxiv.org/abs/1008.3172

ABOUT MASDAR:
Masdar Institute (www.masdar.ac.ae) is a private, not-for-profit,
independent, research-driven institute developed with the support and
cooperation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The
Institute offers Masters and PhD programs in science and engineering
disciplines, with a focus on advanced energy and sustainable
technologies. Its faculty is of the highest quality and the intent is
to have the structure of its top administration similar to MIT's. The
Institute is part of the growing Masdar City (www.masdarcity.ae),
which aims to be the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste city, and
is home of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The
Institute is located in Abu Dhabi, with close proximity to Dubai,
considered among the most vibrant and cosmopolitan cities in the
Middle East.